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Well, What to say. Another decade is rapidly fading into the past and all the doomsayers are still with us. We did not enter a new Ice age in 1970's. We did not run out of oil in the 1990's. We did not lose the polar ice caps in 2000's. We did not all drown in 2010's (Rising sea levels). And I am not sure what we were all meant to die of in the 2010's (oh yes Global warming) (Climate change) Have a fantastic 2020 people. May your God give you everything that you need in your life. Let's hope for a fantastic bee season also. (however that looks for you) Let's all say a prayer for the victims of the Australian bush fires.

Great but unexpected result: Truck found via social media just a few miles away locked up and undamaged. Police recon it's one of the only undamaged finds in a long time: seems like a joy rider from somewhere pretty close to home? Bloody good lesson to keep the security levels high. Cheers Keith

Virgins take on average 2 mating Flights. In one study using Read Only Tags on the Virgins, the the average number of Mating flights was just over 2, the maximum was 6! Flights of less than 5 minutes were considered Orientation flights. Average Mating Flight time was between 10 and 30 minutes. Latest research also shows that Virgins are mating with far more drones than previously thought. It has shown that Virgins often mate with 30 or more Drones, up to 50 sub-families have been found in a single colony- all this new fangled DNA technology is turning a lot of what we use to believe on its' head.

Here's my take, and i get this not only from my own hives but also that i get numerous requests from hobbyists with near dead hives to go fix them. If the issue is mites but the queen is still alive, the hive can be fixed. First i agree with many of Christi An's comments, but if a hive only has a few sick bees left and will be dead in 2 weeks, shaking them onto new empty combs will not save it because it will be dead before they can get a new cycle of brood through. However the method may be effective in less severe circumstances, and Christi An has found that in his own experience. Katrin you never did say how many bees produced the 40 mites, but by just about any commonly used method or number of bees, a mite count of 40 is very high, and I suspect your hive will be a lot closer to death than you realise. Once all brood is dead or close to it, and the adults are not going to live long, what can look to a beginner like a still well populated hive can go to no bees very quickly. Here is how to save pretty much any close to death (by varroa) hive. From another hive, find a comb of healthy brood that is very close to hatching and put it middle of the brood nest of the sick hive. This is because without that, the hive may be dead in less than 3 weeks. The hatching bees from the healthy comb will at least keep the hive alive long enough for some healthy brood to start emerging once mite treatment has been put in the hive. The brood comb put in must be close to hatching because the sick hive may not be able to care for brood that still has a couple of weeks before it hatches. It must start hatching immediately. If the hive is down to a few hundred bees, more adult bees must be added with the brood, enough to keep it warm. Jiggle the comb a bit so older bees that can fly will fly, the ones still hanging on are young bees that are less likely to kill the queen or rob the hive. In the sick hive put the brood comb with bees next to the comb with the queen, but have the queen on the other side of the comb she is on, from the new comb. This will make for a slower introduction and if all this is done right it is very rare to lose the queen. Me, I don't bother to remove the sick brood, but i do respect the idea of doing it. Bayvarol is my treatment of choice for these situations, a strip should be placed each side and middle of the healthy comb, and other strips placed as needed for whatever the bee population is. Do not place the strips at the end of the comb or outside of the brood. They must be middle of the brood. If it's robbing season reduce the entrance to very small and have the entrance nearest to the bees cluster where the guards are closest to it. Check the hive in 3 weeks. The broodnest might be much smaller, but should be healthy. Bees don't like varroa treatment strips and the small brood nest may have been moved away from the strips. If that has happened, move the strips to centre of the brood nest. Over the next few weeks the hive will start increasing in population and will start cleaning out dead brood and expanding the size of the broodnest. That's my method and i get pretty much 100% success regardless how bad the hive is, I've even brought back hives with a queen running around plus 20 or 30 scattered bees left alive. Only other thing I'd say is that the other hives likely have high varroa levels also, would pay to treat them all. Leave the strips in 10 weeks.

Why do we discuss temps? Take the big picture, humans consumerism is destroying earth. Business want us to be wasteful, throw it away. Makes production cheap and affordable for all to throw away Because no viable options are available. For a reason, to keep us stuck. Government want our tax, spend please Poor young folk get bombed with adds to spend. The mantra, spending is good

Trevor is not correct. It has not set 'records' for growth over the last 5 years, and the ice cap is not expanding. It is shrinking around the edges, but its' mass is increasing because of increased precipitation over the continent which, as Mark said, is consistent with a warming climate, and Antarctic sea ice is disappearing at an ever increasing rate year after year. So to grasp at this increasing mass, to support an indefensible position on Climate Change, is desperate. If this were an American Long Haul Trucker's Forum you would expect to see Climate Change denial, but it is so sad to see it on a New Zealand Beekeepers Forum.

Definitely not, I am saying you need to do some serious thinking yourself. And don't call every one who does not agree with you an idiot. I don't care if you believe in Climate change or not. I just get sick of everyone trying to tell me what to believe.

Not a climate change denier. Climate is changing , I remember walking home from school as a child and skating on the frozen puddles on the side of the road after a week of continuous frosts. Don't see that anymore.

Listened to a now semi-retired longterm commercial beek speak who suggested requeening in autumn - reason was that should get excellent matings, and once mated, over the winter the queen has the time to totally mature during a period of lower laying rates, and hit the spring running as a fully matured egg machine. Just one perspective, but rang true to me.

Yes @Philbee - but how many years were you happily using the gib staples before learning the lab information? Or in fact needing it for registration? Let's not be too scaremongering here

Why would this need to be expensive? Could surely be done electronically now...

Generally the idea of globalisation was supported . But none of us realised that a great idea would be hijacked and turned into a means of mass exploitation. Its depressing how the worst of humanity has prevailed . I do not believe that it is inevitable and always has to be like that.

When I was 12 I met an old beekeeper somewhere north of Auckland who told me that he had seen his bees working pohutukawa by moonlight. I have found over the years if there is something for them to do and it's warm enough they will work. I have seen a tremendous honey flow happening on a day with low cloud\fog and very light drizzle. Today was beautiful but with Hawke's Bay baked dry the hives were very disappointing.

Mate. There are lots of Beeks on this Forum who have met me and I very much doubt that any of them consider me to be a difficult or overly confrontational sort of individual. Life has taught me that often the faults we see in others are actually the same faults we see in our selves. This is why such faults can be intolerable. As it happens Im substantially German so can understand your position.

One of the parellel's to beekeeping was that when the original outbreak was confirmed, suddenly MPI did a grand spring off ring to find that the much vaunted NAIT tagging program was simply being ignored by many farmers, and there was little doubt that while they knew who had bought it in, the originators had covered up for two years, so it had spread far and wide by their actions shifting and selling infected stock, no charges were able to be laid. Much like many are bleating about the new brooms at AFBPMP have started to seriously deal to those with unregistered hives.

Arctic ice.cap not looking so great now though, nor trying to get house insurance or deal with tidal inundation in low.lying areas such as south Dunedin... Entrenched views on climate change debate are similar to entrenched views on 1080. Wherever we're positioned, it's unlikely we'll move too much.

You have been loosing a lot of bees to varroa, so if one or two die in a sugar shake, still worth it to get a grip on real numbers. In over ten years involved in hobby groups, I have never met a hobbyist who had been able to get any thymol treatment to work properly - including an AP 2 using it at a club apiary. Comes back to why we try and get newbees to use conventional treatments for the first three years - there is nothing at all 'organic' about watching colonies dying from varroa.

So everyone knows that things are a bit 'interesting' in the industry at the moment. There are also some things going on with respect to queens and queen breeding too. A number of beekeepers are all of a sudden 'queen breeders' also. I personally find this a little insulting. We eschewed the honey money and developed our breeding program over the past 12 years. Anyone can produce a few cells, maybe even a few queens but delivering high quality queens consistently to order is a bit more challenging than that! I now hear that some of the new breeders (honey producers until a year ago) are buying from others, marking up and on selling the queens while still claiming to be breeders....yeah that's not how it works. A bit or schmoozing and marketing doesnt make you a queen breeder...and I dont believe that the supplying operation will be as careful with the product when their name isnt on the product. The queen is your hive motor....without a good one you are just wasting money no matter how cheap it is... find a reputable breeder who has a track record and is hands on and spend your money is my advice. Or breed your own and uss a breeder for extra support/diversity supply or to patch up in poor mating seasons.

Most bigger operators use 10 day as the norm. 2 days are more robust than 10 I reckon. You can knock the wax off no worries, handle more temp variations, drop them... Just need bees in a carrier to tend to them in transport. Even that is not that important,

I have no idea if this is correct or not . Someone would need to do a Thesis on the theory to prove it . The point is , it actually doesn’t make any difference as we really don’t know how it’s distributed ( by feet , body contact or perhaps even by bees mouthparts ) AND we don’t know how it works . The important bit , that you described perfectly , is treating the nurse bees that are working the brood . This line of thought has stimulated some good conversation

Borage is putting on a bit of a show... Rata is coming slowly....a bit of a case of wait and see. paddocks of clovet that hsd potential last week are now done. where to next Kimosabhe?

After returning to beeking after a long long time, ( and now being registered myself, rather than family ) , i went to the AFB training day. and passed the 'quiz'. As an 'educational' experience, i was very dissapointed, but also deeply concerned that you could pass a recognition, by picture association rather than by actually learning to recognize AFB. I'll be able to get a DECA in the next few months, and if the course was the sum total of what AFB 'training' was, i think i'd be a liablity.

Sometimes honey bees can get snow blindness. Snow on the ground, the weather gets warm, they go flying and can't get home because they are blind. Could the same be happening with light reflecting off the water?

We on this forum don't hear about Manuka sales. We discuss bush/pasture. Maybe the mono M beeks are still getting solid prices or maybe not... Have you considered approaching the local paper? It's a start. Get community support. Sometimes the local info goes national. Get @jamesc and a few others involved. Did you sell a lot of hives/nucs over the years? Was that a larger part of revenue What prices did you sell your crop for previously? Was it over 6-7? If you get 6-7 how might your business move forward?

Global Warming is causing our Climate to Change, it is that simple. How can you you see a conspiracy in that? You have got to change your news sources. You can rant with half truths about Greta and Climate Activists going to conferences, but try to stick to the facts- the science is is undeniable, Human Activity is causing the earth to warm dramatically, which is causing our Climate to change dangerously.

Remember that Darwin was a solo scientist. His theories are now widely accepted. But still not fully proven. He was less than 3%.

I grew up on an orchard . The price for a box of peaches now is about double it was in the 60s. Everything else is more than double . The price of food has not kept price with the price of other stuff . Except TVs .

The beauty of it all lies in that the good Australian folk, oh yes hand in hand with some big Kiwi operators are simply doing what NZ was doing prior to the MPI standard. i.e. shooting themselves in the feet (yes feet, plural). NZ has the biggest and best golden opportunity in our lap to maintain a genuine item, grown, processed, packed and marketed from NZ, sold at a premium price. The one and only genuine NZ Manuka honey. The ugly is in the producer not getting a fair slice of the cake here at the present and I suspect if we don't wake up to this then it will indeed continue to the advantage of the marketer/exporter.

Here is the full study AND in my hunting variety "Kurstaki" is harmless to bees. (But can't find reference to effectiveness on varroa..still looking.. https://hal.archives-ouvertes.fr/hal-01234771/document And from https://www.canr.msu.edu/news/how-to-control-invasive-pests-while-protecting-pollinators-and-other-beneficial-insects Bacillus thuringiensis (B.t.) Products containing B.t. are made from a naturally-occurring soil bacterium. Many different B.t. products are available for landscape professionals and homeowners. Different strains of B.t. target specific pest groups, making them selective pesticides. For example, spores and crystals of Bacillus thuringiensis var. kurstaki (B.t.k.) are highly toxic when ingested by butterfly and moth larvae (caterpillars). The crystals containing the toxin dissolve only at an extremely high pH found in the caterpillar’s gut. B.t.k. is not toxic to bees. However, avoid spraying or allowing spray to drift onto favored food plants of caterpillars such as milkweed, the sole food source for monarch butterfly caterpillars. Another strain of B.t., B.t. galleriae (B.t.g.), targets several species of beetles in the adult and larval stages including scarab beetles (e.g., Japanese beetle), flat headed beetles (e.g., emerald ash borer), weevils and leaf beetles. B.t.g. is not toxic to bees or butterflies, but applications should be avoided where predatory beetles are active. B.t. galleriae is now available at garden centers and recent testing indicates that it will control Japanese beetle adults for two weeks after it is sprayed. It will not harm pollinators, but it is toxic to monarch caterpillars. And this https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/5223891 indicates Var kurstaki kills at least one member of the mite (Acari) family

Excellent DVD, 'More than Honey' wish all new NZ beeks had to watch so they understood the stupidity of watching US beekeeping stuff!

We are sticking to bayvarol in autumn apivar in spring as recommended by Mark Godwin back in the early days of varroa. His reasoning was Apivar is slower to act so use in spring as the growth of the hive should outrun the increase in varroa giving the apivar time to work. Bayvarol in Autumn because the mites have generally built up to a point they need a quick knockdown and also the hive will be on the decrease . We have changed our management and now dont target a first flow or last flow just the main flow, no point in harvesting honey we cant sell.

Thanks for lightening the mood Chris. 😄 Let's put this behind us and return to a useful thread.

@Sailabee @M4tt @ChrisM you raise some good points. My point is that with research funding beekeepers could do the research to show the chemical companies and regulators are wrong. The chemical companies and regulators are in close cooperation. Please review the application document for the EPA to simplify our hazard classification system which includes the removal of hazard classes for ecotoxicology. https://www.epa.govt.nz/assets/Uploads/Documents/Hazardous-Substances/GHS_Consultation_Document_for_Public_Release.pdf Submissions are due 9/1/2020 @yesbut no bloody way - NO. I had to say it that way because of your nom de plume. Coromandel is not a major cropping area. What crop that are grown do not need seed treatment. Samples analysed from hives showed no chemical residues of concern. The sampling of surviving bees in hives were clear that two pathogens were present nosema ceranae and lotmaria passim.

Hi there, Are there any DECA holders out there interested in a day out to Rakino Island? We are in the Hauraki gulf, behind Motuhue Is and next to Waiheke and the ferry's are running a couple of times a day for the next few weeks. Please let me know if you are interested or can suggest someone who might be willing and able to pop over and check our 3 hives. all the best Natalie (newbie)

Have had a chat with Peter. Apparently the brood box was supplied by a beekeeper last time he enquired what to do on the forum and this person never came back. I have explained that post varroa mite, honey bee colonies cannot survive without human intervention and I suspect that the hive is dying out in winter/early spring leaving drawn out wax and honey stores in the fence, and when a nearby hive is getting ready to swarm, its scout bees identify this fence as a great place to live in, and I must admit if I was a scout bee that's where I would be heading for! Because this is such a protected hive, with what could be a large space behind the fence there could be a large amount of stores. I suspect that this problem could recur most years if stores not removed. Suggested he block all entrances with newspaper, except the main one, and then in the evening in temperatures that the bees are not flying, petrol the main entrance and block. Then the next day if no activity, remove part of the fence and see what space is behind it (a fact that neither he nor his neighbour know), then scrape out all wax and honey, dig a pit and burn. Also explained the safest way to light this. Also explained about AFB in honey stores, as well as brood frames, and the economic impact on commercial beekeepers, and the impact on a hobbyist that only has 1 or 2 hives losing 50-100% of their operation. Have sent the following link to Peter https://afb.org.nz/beekeeping-and-the-law/ I also recommended burning of the brood box and frames; left by a previous beekeeper.

Hi Sarah This topic has been touched on before here. Ive seen a good examples of this, A farm with ample good clean troughs and also some non flowing catchments that are heavily contaminated with drystock runoff. The shaded but very dirty pond would be at least 80m2 and a magnet for Bees, whereas the clean water attracts few obvious bees. Similarly troughs on another block that are disconnected from a water supply and fill with rainwater only. These troughs attract Bees also.

Good to hear It depends on your moral views.I always tell my customers about the different ratas we have and label accordingly.The only problem is we do not get enough white rata to be pure, it is norm,ally a blend with everything else out there flowering.

From.your description I think I have very little southern rata honey here .

Cows luv em

@chrism good info haven't heard that before re miticide in cells, where did you get your info from? Would be interested in reading it.

Did you mean to say 60 ? Do you need all 60 queens or are you covering your self because you expect such big losses

I grew up with a wetback it was beside the oven and effectively provided a fifth cooking element for the stove. It was my job to light it. It was at an age I loved my job. I don't know what the thermal efficiency of a wet back is but it converts a low grade energy (wood) into low grade energy (hot water) so that is basically good. If you look at oil or coal power stations they convert only about 25 to 30% of the energy in the coal to electrical power by the time it comes to your house. It is not great (for me) to be using high grade power to then heat water. But my options are limited. The internal combustion engine in your car doesn't do much better also 25 to 30% at the rear wheel, most of the energy gets released as heat. So, you can probably burn less than three times more wood in the wet back and still be be than a thermal power station for a given amount of kWh.. If the wood was on the ground and going to rot regardless, then you've produced C02 instead of methane and you're growing more trees. So, you have avoided a worse greenhouse gas too. So, while that would not make the grade in urban CHC it has to be pointed out that there is not abundant firewood in the urban centre and the topography makes air pollution a problem in a densely populated area. Horses for courses. It does not mean one or other is better or worse. It all gets a bit complicated and there is one single answer for all environments.

Historically those two predilections were very closely aligned - even illegally so.

That's what a few people have been saying they do, and that's what I'll do next time around.

Thanks @Dave Aky your discussion is really interesting, loving the feedback. I am only learning and this is such an interesting subject. This swarming business is pretty tricky!

My main apiary is about 600 metres from my home. I keep just a few hives at home - mainly due to bee poo issues and the danger of death if my wife continued to be unable to hang the washing outdoors! If I need to move colonies from one site to the other I move them around 3 miles away (to where I work) for a couple of weeks first. The poo issue tends to come in waves - depending on the forage available and the time of year - for me it's spring that's the worst time. If the odd colony needs to be split due to swarming, or a swarm could be hived elsewhere, that could be an opportunity to start to move of some colonies - any reduction in numbers would show willing and appease the neighbours before the big move.

Bear in mind that in the good ol USA, the company that spends a fortune developing a new chemical treatment set up and complete the toxicity assessments, not the FDA, and traditionally, they have made sure that the tests were concocted to ensure they passed, although it will be interesting to see if Monsanto being owned by Bayer will change the integrity or lack thereof.

So, What's life without a challenge. I decided I would try and help @Alastair out and get some good Bellows (mattress springs). I then decided that id I was going to go to all the effort of getting springs, then I should make a monster bellows myself. So. Here is the build with pictures. I measured up some original bellows, they are 125 w x 190mm high with a span of 95mm My new bellows are 125 w x 250 mm High. with a span of 105.. Approx twice the volume. I made mine with 9mm marine ply (because I had it). This is how I fixed the spring (one end only) And constructed the inlet ports The purple stuff is silicon cooking sheet. I bought that from Uncle Bills some time ago for another job. No no cost. I decided to hinge the plates together to help prevent wear on the vinyl covering. Again I had these spare in the workshop as part of my small joinery that I do I decided on a nice outlet of 10mm ID copper pipe (scrap material that I get off a plumber friend) Size comparison between the original and mine. Another size comparison. Smoker demo to follow. Here is the demo video. Sorry about the wind but as you can see, lots of smoke even when squeezing very slowly. 20191129_143122.mp4 Total cost. 1 x 500 gm pot of honey for the springs. I got 12 for that price.

This girl showed up as a supercedure queen in one of my nucs.